Lesser Virtues, Greater Goals | Tomarry

Chapter 9: Come to me willingly

Things were... complicated.

Harry wasn't sure what he expected.

During the first few days, he thought there was a secret door somewhere in the house. A door that led to the dungeons.

Once he realized that there wasn't any door of that sort and his prison would be an actual bedroom, he felt cheated.
This isn't how villains work.

Villains kill your loved ones.

And surely, Ginny is in no favorable position, though he would find the spell to get her out. But she isn't dead. He will make sure his owl doesn't die either. As far as Harry knows, no one has been killed as of yet.

Villains don't care about your nightmares.

They quite like monologing. And Riddle has been extremely short in his words. He speaks only when his curiosity is piqued, and that happens at certain cases.

Oh, he is using him alright. Harry is sure of that. But the way he does it...

He doesn't rely on physical strength like uncle Vernon when he slaps him on the cheek and yells at him to go back to the cupboard without dinner or Dudley who pushes him around the neighborhood with the obedient lapdogs he has as friends.

No. His method is more... psychologically based. He tries to find cracks, weak spots in the boy's mannerisms. Then he spins the words around and makes him question his own sanity.

Harry had read in a recently published book the term 'gaslighting'. He hadn't realized what that meant at first. He knows now.

__________

He is searching through countless bookshelves. He wants to find something truly relaxing to read besides history records.

Perhaps a piece of literature like Charles Dickens. He quite likes fairytales. Fiction is interesting. He prefers escapism than thinking about his relatives back home or the older boy in one of the rooms of this house.

He sees the door to the older's workplace is open, just five inches, but it still counts. He takes a look behind his shoulder. Tom is not there at the time.

Harry decides to risk it. He may find something useful inside there. Maybe some notes for a secret plan, who knows? So he steps inside and closes the door as quietly as he can behind him.

Wow. Lots and lots of books placed the one on the top of the other, forming towers on the desk. He counts five of these. He checks the titles. Bummer. None of them are fiction. He is ready to even settle for poetry... but again, no title reminds him of such a collection.

'Monarchy and Power' by Otto Selwyn.

'The greatest battles of the 21st century' by Percival Anders

'The crimes and victories of Napoleon' by Jeremy Andrews

Everything is about wars and politics. Grown up stuff. Boring stuff.

'Hitler: A study in tyranny' by Allan Bullock

'Ah. Now that is something.' Harry thinks and tries to pull the book out of the other five that are above it without them tumbling over.

Realistically that cannot be pulled off. The books are tilting to the left. Harry catches them before they fall on the desk. He puts them back in place as he clutches the book he has chosen tightly to his chest.

Good up till now.

Then he makes an effort to open up a shelf. He pulls it by the round handle. It's locked. He tries the other two above it. Locked too.